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Sunday, 2 December 2012

Team Adventure - A Spiky Encounter

When the party woke the day after the night’s events, there was still
a faint smoky haze on the air. The evidence of their blisteringly
successful attack on the ogres lay all around them and they lost no time
in breaking camp and setting off again. They were now entering a
stretch of sylvan woodland and the raw power of nature unrestrained was
evident to all. That afternoon, they had the sound of howling wolves
from the woods around them but the creatures seemed reluctant to
approach during daylight. That night, as the party was trying to select a
good spot to camp, the sound of rustling in the undergrowth and
growling met their ears. Elysia sent Relic out into the darkness to find
out what it was; the pseudo-dragon came back to report that five brown
bears were out prowling for food. Wisely, the party decided to relocate
and tramped through the woods until the noise of the bears was far
distant.

The next day, they were riding on when Alurax
and Alagon, glancing into the sky for distraction from the endless
procession of trees and undergrowth, spotted three creatures flying
towards them. Curious as to what they were, they used the keen sight of
Gullhar to get more details about them. He reported that they had the
bodies of lions, the wings of bats and the heads of men. They also had
long tails tipped with something that looked like the heads of teasels.

Thinking
that the newcomers were sphinxes, Elysia flew Ferros up into the air
above the trees to speak to them. As the creatures approached, they
began to circle. Ferros prepared to open hailing frequencies but a
moment later was riddled with vicious iron spikes and was brought back
down very quickly indeed. The manticores, for such were they, moved in
to take on the rest of the party. One was brought down before it had a
chance to land, and the other two moved in, one taking some heavy
damage. Elysia put up her Shield and the party bunched behind her to
make use of it. Benbo and Alurax faced forward with her, whilst Alagon,
Gullhar and the very injured Ferros kept to the rear; wisely, as it
turned out for the second manticore rose up again to fly over the Shield
and attack from the rear. The paladin, the elf and the cleric
concentrated their efforts on this one whilst Elysia, Benbo and Alurax
kept the manticore on the other side of the Shield busy.
One of
Alurax’s attacks went awry as he moved in with his trident; he
mishandled the shaft of the weapon and ended up sinking its points into
the ground. He was able to extract it but delayed his participation in
the attack.
Despite some damage suffered by several of the party,
they finally managed to kill the two remaining attackers and felt quite
pleased about it. The manticores had not even used their claw and bite
attacks, restricting themselves to the use of their tail spikes but
nevertheless, had proved themselves fearsome opponents. Benbo and Alagon
decided to cut open the stomachs of the manticores to see if there was
any treasure inside but were unsuccessful and a bout of nausea and
vomiting ensued as they saw the results of their gruesome task.

For
much of the rest of the day, there was little to trouble the party,
save the howling of wolves and the renewed presence of brown bears,
although it was not clear whether it was the same group or another one.
The lack of either ranger or druidic capability in the party was
starting to tell although no hostile moves were made by the wildlife
that day.

The next day, the party had not been on the
march long before they spotted a rocky outcrop not too far away, topped
with trees. By what looked like a cave entrance, there lounged a
manticore and another launched itself periodically into the air. This
was clearly the lair of the trio that had attacked the previous day and
the party decided to investigate, Benbo leading the way with his thiefly
skills. Unfortunately, he was able to move neither quietly nor covertly
and the airborne manticore was soon heading his way to attack. Alagon,
Gullhar and Ferros moved in to support the doughty hobbit and using
missile fire, managed to bring down the manticore before it could
unleash its deadly weapon.

This time, Benbo’s attempts
to sneak up on the cave bore more fruit and whilst he was leading the
party forward, Elysia and Alurax flew to the top of the outcrop to try
and take the manticore by surprise. The party’s combined efforts
succeeded, with Alurax making the leap onto the manticore’s back to
finish it off with a stab of his trident.

Within the
cave, amidst the bones that had been gnawed as part of the manticores’
feasting, the party found some valuable treasure, including scrolls, a
magical cross-bow and an enchanted war hammer. These went into the
party’s communal weaponry, to be used by all members as need dictated.

The
fourth day in the sylvan forests started with what appeared, at first
sight to be a simple combat. Alurax, at the front of the party was
nearly taken by surprise as a huge, two-headed giant appeared in front
of him. The ettin engaged the trident-wielding fighter in combat and the
rest of the party moved forward to engage, only for Ferros and Benbo to
fall under attack from a second ettin that launched a flanking
movement, followed up moments later by a third, attacking from the rear.
The final zombie, who had been traipsing through the wilderness with
the party was smashed by two huge club hits and disintegrated into a
cloud of rotting flesh.

I don't know why it's purple either but it's a nice mini.

Alagon, Gullhar and Ferros used their missile weapons
whilst Benbo leapt into action with sword and dagger. Alurax kept his
ettin busy with the trident whilst Elysia used magic missiles to whittle
down the third. Soon, one ettin was down and the party concentrated
their efforts on the remainder, killing one quickly – Alagon scored a
decapitating hit on one but the second head meant that this did not
automatically kill it. The ettins were having a very bad time of it,
missing several easy targets with their clubs and doing a fraction of
the damage of which they were capable. The party finally overwhelmed the
last ettin with weight of numbers and finished it off.

The
party deduced from the direction of the attack that the ettins must
have come from the south and Benbo started to hunt around to see if he
could find any sign of the trail that they would have left. It was not
long before he picked something up and led the party through the
undergrowth, keeping the trail in his sights until it led to a rickety
old lean-to, built against a thick oak. The smell from inside was
appalling, with rotting flesh, gnawed bones and unwashed ettin high on
the list of nauseating aromas. Nevertheless, a good rummage in the
ettins’ den revealed more treasure; this was in the form of a smattering
of copper, silver and electrum and a tourmaline but beneath a pile of
rotting furs, the party found a sack that held nearly five thousand gold
pieces, a potion and a scroll.

Their sojourn in the
sylvan forest had netted them a large haul of treasure and experience
but they were not out of the woods yet.

What I'm DMing for 6 new junior players

Old School Links to Wisdom

Give your d12...

...some Old School love

Running now

Call of Cthulhu - visit our wiki

That's what Old School means to me

"These rules are flexible and open to interpretation - designed not to cover all conceivable situations, but to allow good Referees and Players the freedom to create and play games of their own design."

from the Lulu download page for The White Box S&W from BHP

"This game is unlike chess in that the rules are not cut and dried. In many places, they are guidelines and suggested methods only. This is part of the attraction of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"

About Me

Over halfway to 90, I started playing AD&D when the Police were a cool band and Punk was wild. I am a father to a ten-year-old Junior Grognard and have now managed to establish a five-strong gaming group made up of him and four of his friends, ages ranging from 10 to 11. Solidly Old-School.
High fives and natural 20s to you all!